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Girls Who Write Good

Poetry sustains life. Of this I am certain. There is no doubt in my mind that the pain of poverty, whether material or emotional lack, can be eased by the power of language. I know this intimately. For in that misunderstood childhood of mine, I found that sanctuary in poetry. It restored me, allowed me to come back from that space of woundedness and sadness to a recognition of beauty.
—bell hooks Wounds of Passion: A Writing Life

Her fascination with places like the sinkhole was a secret she kept, as was my murder and our meeting in the faculty parking lot. They were all things she would not give away in New York, where she watched others tell their drunken bar stories, prostituting their families and their traumas for popularity and booze. These things, she felt, were not to be passed around like disingenuous party favors. She kept an honor code with her journals and her poems. "Inside, inside," she would whisper quietly to herself when she felt the urge to tell, and she would end up taking long walks through the city, seeing instead the Stolfuz cornfield or an image of her father staring at his pieces of rescued antique molding. New York provided a perfect background for her thoughts. Despite her willed stomping and pitching in its streets and byways, the city itself had very little to do with her interior life.—Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones

From the start, Lindsey's youth and purpose had caught the police off guard. As more and more of them realized who she was, they gave her a wider berth. Here was this girl, focused, mad, fifteen. Her breasts were like perfect small cups, her legs gangly but curved, her eyes like flint and flower petals.—Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones

If you don't ask the right questions, every answer feels wrong. I was a terrible waitress, so I started to write songs. And I don't know how I feel, but I wonder if you feel like me, do you ever get wrapped up in the folds of my memory?—ani difranco

Life is a "B" movie, it's stupid and it's strange. It's a directionless story, and the dialogue is lame, but in the 'he said, she said' sometimes there's some poetry if you turn your back long enough and let it happen naturally.—ani difranco

i don't think that i'm better than you, but i don't think that I'm worse. women learn to be women and men learn to be men.—ani difranco

We were drinking like the Irish, but we were drinking scotch/bartender turns on the movie/every body turned to watch/ and every single eye was gleamin' when they reached the final scene/well at least mine did/here's lookin' at you kid/you know it's a mad mission, under difficult conditions/not everybody makes it to the loving cup/it's a mad mission/but i got the ambition/mad, mad mission/sign me up.—Patty Griffin

Funny how we can't, until we must.—Meg Hutchinson

But back to when it was thick and glistening and alive. I mean life, never knowing what was going to happen. That's what I was full of one night. Gliding up 16th Street, heading home, past the old guys selling syringes, the lines of kids waiting to get into the Roxie, waiting to get a falafel or a burrito. Moving toward my house with the windows open wide like big mouths eating the sky. You could sit in the window and be its teeth, my favorite place to be.--Michelle Tea, Valencia

Want love? Go down inside your destructible heart.—Adrienne Rich

You must write your passions. Live your life not to write, but write about that which you have lived through, and loved and learned from.--Jamaica Kincaid.

It's not the problem that defines you, it's how you handle the problem every day that defines you.—Jamila Wideman

I wonder if everything I do, I do instead of something I want to do more. —ms. ani difranco

Can't say goodbye, we never really met, you just burned my bed and tore out the stars and kissed my forehead.—Deb Talan

The student continued: "How long must one remain in the dark?"

And I replied, "Until one can see in the dark."—Florence Scovel-Shinn

New Works and Upcoming Performances or Publications:

• Kirse Granat May, Smith '94 has published her book! It's called Golden State, Golden Youth: The California Image in Popular Culture, 1955-1966. Yeah, Kirse! You can order your very own copy from Amazon.com.

• Lori McKenna released a new album to fans at shows and through her Web site on October 17th. The Kitchen Tapes features new songs, all of which were recorded indie-style at McKenna's kitchen table.

• Lillian Fuchs will have a poem published in the Spring 2003 edition of Kalliope.

If you have news to share, the best way to reach me is via e-mail.